Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I presume the Taoiseach is aware that the Standards in Public Office Commission, SIPO, decided, on the basis of a 3:2 majority, that it would not investigate further my complaint about the leaking by the then Taoiseach, now the Tánaiste, of the GP contract to his political supporter Maitiú Ó Tuathail. I want to focus on the reasoning set out by the commission. In its concluding paragraph, it states, "The commission carefully considered its legal advice and all the evidence before it, including the acceptance by the respondent that he did disclose the agreement but that it was done pursuant to the functions of the office of the Taoiseach and in furtherance of the policy goals of the Government." It adds, "In such circumstances, where the commission is of the view that it has no role and/or remit to consider either the lawfulness of the action or the extent of the powers of the office of Taoiseach, it is the opinion of the commission that evidence sufficient to sustain a complaint is not and will not be available, even in circumstances where the disclosure of the Agreement is not in dispute." Effectively the Tánaiste, the then Taoiseach, used the Nixon defence or Trump defence: I leaked the contract, broke the ethics legislation and breached the codes of conduct but did it as Taoiseach in pursuance of the policy goals of the Government, and therefore it is okay. The commission has accepted that defence and does not go into whether it is true. It does not make a judgment on whether the former Taoiseach did what he did in pursuance of the policy goals of the Government. Once he raises the defence in question, the commission states it cannot look into the matter any further. Does the Taoiseach agree there is a problem here that creates a very troublesome precedent, whereby the next Taoiseach, who just happens to be the person complained about, or another future Taoiseach will be able to blatantly breach ethics legislation and stop any investigation by simply saying he did what he did as Taoiseach?

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